


Cutting it close

by Rangergirl3



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [23]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Protective Matt, Psychological Torture, Torture, Traumatic Haircut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 11:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20865806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangergirl3/pseuds/Rangergirl3
Summary: More than anything, Matt wishes this would end.





	Cutting it close

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Traumatic Haircut
> 
> A continuation of the previous two prompts (Coughing up Blood and Pulling Teeth)

Haxus steps backwards, nodding to the guards, and they haul Keith up into a kneeling position. When they do, his head lolls to one side before dropping forwards onto his chest.

Matt's fairly certain that his friend still hasn't regained consciousness yet. He doesn't know whether to be worried, or glad. 

_At least he's not awake to feel the pain right now._

It's a small comfort, but Matt clings on to it all the same. Even as he does, Haxus unsheathes his knife again and comes to stand behind Keith.

Matt can't stop himself from lurching forwards, even though the sentries' grips keep him exactly where he is.

Haxus sees, and his lip curls in satisfaction.

"Are you ready to talk yet?"

Matt snarls, because he can't, he can't, he _can't_.

Haxus shrugs a shoulder before looking back down at Keith, who's still unconscious. The soldiers on either side of the unconscious Blade are only thing keeping Keith upright.

"Well, let's see what your _friend_ thinks, shall we?"

* * *

Keith jolts out of unconsciousness when someone grips his chin, hard. The pressure on his swollen gums sends stabbing arcs of pain throughout his jaw, and he lets out a thready whimper of agony before he can stop himself. 

_Fuck_, it _hurts_. It hurts so much. The pain of it makes him dizzy.

When he tries to reach up with his hands, whoever's holding his chin only tightens their grip, and Keith almost passes out (again) from the pain of it before he's forced to look directly at Matt. 

Matt looks like death warmed over, but he's not bleeding any more than he was before.

_That's...that's good._

As the sharp, cold edge of a knife grazes across the back of his neck, Keith can barely do so much as wince. 

_He's in so much pain already._

But he still doesn't want to guess what's coming next.

* * *

Keith's eyes are barely half-open. Matt doesn't know if that's due to exhaustion, or pain, or _both,_ or blood loss, or - 

"Well?"

It takes Matt a second to realize that Haxus is asking him a question, and yet another second to decide whether or not to give an answer.

_He knows he can't make this situation any worse, but -_

* * *

Haxus' voice asks a question, but the pain keeps everything hazy until something cold and metallic slides across the back of Keith's neck again. Then Haxus' knee slams against his shoulder, and Keith almost loses his balance and falls to the floor again.

Haxus repeats his question, but when Matt doesn't answer, the knife slides across the back of Keith's scalp. It's a shallow cut, but it starts to bleed heavily. 

_Scalp wounds tended to do that._

Keith does his best not to flinch when it happens for a fourth time.

_Oh._

He's just realized that knife's been slicing off sections of his hair.

_That - that isn't so bad, right? It'_ _s not like Haxus has cut off his ear -_

Even as the thought crosses his mind, the knife slices _deeper_ into the skin behind his right ear, and Keith recoils away from the pain out of reflex. Or he would, if he weren't kneeling on the floor with two Galra soldiers holding his arms out at his sides.

* * *

Matt tries, _again_, to reach Keith's side, but the sentries keep him in place. 

"You can end this at any time," Haxus tells him. "Simply _tell_ me -"

Keith's body jerks forwards as the the knife's edge opens up a deep diagonal cut across his foreheard. Long, dark strands of hair fall to the floor, joining the many others that litter the ground around Haxus' boots.

"-_where_ the rebels will _attack._"

Another cut, deeper this time, one that slices off the very tip of Keith's left ear. The youngest Blade shudders, but remains silent.

_Matt tries not to imagine how much more blood might still coat the ground before Haxus is done._

Haxus hasn't cut one of Keith's ears off - yet - but that doesn't mean the Galra General isn't considering it.

* * *

_It hurts, it hurts so much._

Keith's eyes ache from the strain of the lights. Every muscle in his body screams for rest. His vision's almost completely gone now. Even Matt is just a faint shape on the other side of the vast, empty space that stretches before him.

_It's always like this._

He can push through, or even ignore pain up to a point, but when he does reach his limits...

_Pain, followed by pressure - rough, tearing, unforgiving._

Haxus is gripping him by his hair (or whatever's left of it), forcing Keith's chin up and to one side, the better to make eye contact with the Galra soldier standing behind him.

"Tell your _friend_ he can stop this," Haxus says. "_If_ you can manage it."

The words are accompanied by a twisting, wrenching pull, and Keith's chin is wrenched down and towards the front until he's facing Matt again.

* * *

Seconds stretch as Matt waits for the inevitable, dreading it all the while.

He can't tell the Galra what they want to know, and Keith knows he can't, but -

_Torture is enough to make anyone beg for mercy._

_Even when they know it won't be given._

* * *

Under Haxus' grip, Keith's scalp aches and burns from the multiple cuts, and his jaw - _god_, it hurts.

_It'll never stop hurting._

But he has to do this.

* * *

Matt curls his fingers into fists. It's the only thing he's capable of doing at the moment. If he could manage it, he'd kill Haxus right here and now.

The former Red Paladin is almost unrecognizable, with the blood and the shorn hair and -

_And there are tears streaming down Keith's face._

Not many, just one or two, but...

_**Damn** **it**. _

* * *

Keith's voice is indistinct, almost no more than a strangled hiss, but Matt hears it all the same. 

"-M-M-Matt-"

Matt does his best to ignore the way Haxus is now grinning down at them both triumphantly as Keith breaks off, coughing. The lower half of Keith's face is stained almost completely red, but Matt concentrates on trying to make eye contact with his friend.

_It's the least he can do_.

* * *

"Yeah, Keith?"

Matt's doing his best to be strong, but - but Keith can tell it's taking every last scrap of the rebel leader's self-control to keep from crying.

It's difficult to talk, but Keith knows he has to be strong now, because -

Because no matter what, Matt is his friend. 

_He needs Matt to know it, too._

In the end, he can't find the words for what he wants to say, not with Haxus so close and certain of his triumph, so Keith keeps it to just three words.

* * *

* * *

"-'s f-fine, Matt -"

Then Haxus digs his claws into the sides of his face, and with that, Keith shuts his eyes.

* * *

_What came before was merely a prologue. _

The pain that will come now shall be a never-ending constant.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are better than a fresh cup of coffee! Kudos are like a nice mug of hot peppermint tea after sunset. <3


End file.
